Radiologists in the Islamic Republic of Iran have secured major achievements in the diagnosis of coronavirus through Thoracic CT (Computed Tomography) Scan.

In an interview with Al-Manar, Tehran-based Diagnostic and Interventional Radiologist Dr. Mostafa Al-Jawhari said that Iran faced significant challenge since the start of the contagious disease earlier in February.

“There has been a huge number of suspected infections that we had to confirm,” Al-Jawhari told Al-Manar.

He noted that the key way to diagnose the deadly disease, was the Reverse-Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR), known as PCR, for throat and nose swab samples.

“However, due to shortages in such tests, as well as non-accuracy in some cases, we had to resort to a new way to diagnose the disease rather than the only adopted one,” said Al-Jawhari, a Lebanese national who has been pursuing his education in Iran.

He underlined the effectiveness of the Thoracic CT images in the diagnosis of the deadly disease, also known as COVID-19.

“The patient will have slight radiation exposure with accurate result through this technique. Even the pregnant woman in Iran can undergo the Thoracic CT Scan in order to confirm its infection with coronavirus.”

Al-Jawhari said, in this context, that the diagnosis percentage for non-symptomatic patients in Iran reached 88%, while for symptomatic patients it reached 100%.

Iran Offers Lebanon Radiological Cooperation against Coronavirus

Meanwhile, the Lebanese doctor revealed that the Iranian Society of Radiology has established a group of 22 Iran-based professors, doctors and radiologists which offers consultancy services in this field in the Islamic Republic and abroad.

“So far, we have analyzed100,000 CT images in Iran and 50,000 others abroad. In the last two days, this group had contacted the Lebanese health minister, voicing readiness to offer consultancy services in analyzing CT images used in diagnosis of coronavirus.”

He emphasized that such initiative, based on experience of other countries who have been battling the CIVID-19, helps in offering fast and accurate diagnosis of this disease, including the severity of infection.

Al-Jawhari also noted that this Iran-based group has been offering such free and quick online services to societies for the radiologic sciences in Canada and Switzerland, several clinics in the US, as well as hospitals in China’s Wuhan, Spain’s Madrid and Azerbaijan.

“Hereby, I call upon health officials in Lebanon to cooperate on this level, in a bid to battle this disease and contribute to the medical history of the globe,” he concluded.